Keegan: Pink rules; so will Raiders

Two words for the University of Iowa students and professors who want to do away with one of the school’s coolest traditions: Shut up!

Decades ago, then-Hawkeyes football coach Hayden Fry decided to color the visiting locker room pink for a calming effect on opponents.

And get this, a bunch of bozos at Iowa is trying to make the case that the use of pink in this manner is demeaning to women. What a crock.

So let me get this straight: If I go to a big-and-fat store, buy a pink shirt and wear it to work, I’m demeaning women, right? What utter nonsense.

“I want the locker room gone,” law school professor Jill Gaulding whined to a university committee studying the athletic department’s compliance with gender-equity standards.

As soon as she cares what the football coach thinks about how she teaches law, the football coach should care what she thinks about how he coaches football.

Pink lockers, pink shower floors, pink urinals, pink walls it is, and shall be forever more. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll move on to more important matters.

This week’s picks in the first week of Big 12 competition:

Texas Tech 31, Kansas 13: Of all the rotten scheduling luck. Why couldn’t the opening game be against Missouri or Nebraska in Lawrence? Instead, KU hits the road to face the hottest passing offense in the nation. Oh well, look at it this way: If the Jayhawks pull off the upset, nobody can deny they belong in the Top 25. Big if. Make that a gigantic if.

Oklahoma State 14, Colorado 13: I’ve never been one to believe there is any such thing as winning ugly. By its very definition, winning is beautiful. So, it must be said the Cowboys will come out of the weekend with a perfectly beautiful season intact, hairy warts, gigantic moles, crooked teeth and all.

Texas A&M 34, Baylor 20: Flying under the radar of Baylor’s first 3-0 start since 1996 is the big-time recruiting job Scott Drew is doing for the basketball program. Drew, who had back-to-back top-20 classes, has followed that up with a class that already includes two top-100 prospects (a point guard and a center), and Darrell Arthur, the 6-foot-9 power forward being wooed by Bill Self and Roy Williams, still lists Baylor as a possibility. None of that will help the Bears stop dual-threat QB Reggie McNeal, explosive receiver Jason Carter and steady running back Courtney Lewis. The Aggies’ defense is weak, but homefield advantage and revenge-lust for last season’s upset in Waco should carry them to victory.

Iowa State 20, Nebraska 13: Seldom has the fan base of an undefeated football team been so pessimistic about that team as Nebraska backers understandably are about the red-zone-challenged Cornhuskers. Zack Taylor is shaping up as a bust at quarterback, so why not take the red shirt off of freshman Harrison Beck?

Kansas State 27, Oklahoma 24: Injuries and inexperience have not prevented the K-State offensive line from performing efficiently, regardless of which talented running back is picking up huge gains.

Texas 31, Missouri 10: The Vince Young-led offense is so exciting, it’s easy to overlook the dominance of the Longhorns’ defense. Rodrique Wright, a 305-pound defensive tackle who had 7.5 sacks as a sophomore and was slowed by injury last season, is healthy and active again. If Mizzou QB Brad Smith had Vince Young’s supporting cast, he’d be a household name.